


eye of the hurricane

by wajjs



Category: DCU (Comics), Deathstroke the Terminator (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Buried Alive, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Female Jason Todd, Major Character Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 00:15:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29251308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wajjs/pseuds/wajjs
Summary: Red is red no matter where it spills, and bruises bloom all the same.
Relationships: Jason Todd/Slade Wilson
Comments: 6
Kudos: 50





	eye of the hurricane

**Author's Note:**

  * For [EmeraldHeiress](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmeraldHeiress/gifts).



> Em sent me this prompt on tumblr: FemJay/Slade: “I can’t do this without you.” (Slade saying it, if you can.)
> 
> and in true blob fashion, I took the "if you can" as a challenge :-D

**eye of the hurricane**

Very few things can faze them after so long playing this game. Red is red no matter where it spills, and bruises bloom all the same.

"Get up," he says and his voice doesn't echo. "Get up," he insists. It still doesn't get him the desired reaction. 

As it was said before: very few things can faze them. But maybe, just maybe, this is one of them.

Jay looks up at him from where she's laying on the floor. It's dark, though. So dark that not even Slade can see clearly. It's only natural, then, that he _assumes._ It would be so much easier for the two of them if she could get her throat to start working, if she could make a sound, open her mouth, say anything.

Yet there are moments in which she's too detached, as if she's seeing everything from above. She doesn't like what she's seeing. She doesn't like her odds.

Slade's getting impatient. In the cramped space he goes against every survival advice and starts testing the boundaries of their temporary enclosure. Perhaps this is when luck smiles instead of frowning, because something _gives_ and from right above him comes a thin sliver of light.

This is also when time starts running in strange directions.

There's her time, a time that's been slowed down for the past minutes after it sped up too much.

There's his time, one that seemed to be more or less in sync with _real_ time, except that with the light and with the air… His time is beginning to run on distorted legs.

Finally, there's their time under here. That one is the most merciless time of all.

Because with the source of light comes the promise of escape and with the source of light comes the certainty that they'll make it out of here. Because with it flecks of dust and debris cascade down on them like snow made of concrete and dirt. Because he even smiles, a slow, sinuous expression, as he turns around.

Because he can finally _see._

And it is true. Red is red, no matter where it spills.

Jay's eyes are wide open. They have been that way all this time. So she doesn't miss the curve of his smile or the way it is destroyed when he takes her in. When he—

" _No,_ " it's a snarl, the sound that tumbles out of his lips, and he drops to his knees right next to her head. He looks for a way to move all that's on top, looks for, for—

She laughs and her lips are cherry red.

She laughs and he can tell she's also crying.

She laughs and he thinks of the night before this mess, of her among his sheets, of her skin under his mouth. He thinks of her while in movement, how she fights, how she survives, _always,_ and he decides this is not her end. This is not _their_ end.

Not when it was just getting good.

"I won't let you do this," he says and Jay looks up at him, silent. Shock. She's going into shock and he needs to move faster. "I won't—I can't do this without you, kid."

Or, well, he refuses to. Because he's lived through everything. Because he truly believes it would be unfair if Jay doesn't live through this as well.

"We are getting out," his words are meant for the two of them. "We are both getting out."


End file.
